BHP Finish

[Hays]

I'm thinking about purchasing one of the Israeli BHP's offered by AIM for $300. I have seen some photos of these guns (below), and the finish isn't great, which is not surprising considering the cost.

I have never had a gun refinished and know very little about the process. Can a competent smith make a pistol in this condition look sharp by re-blueing or hard chroming it? Are their particular finishes that hide flaws better than others? Finally, who would you recommend to do the work? Thanks for your help.

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. Have the gun matte blued or black parkerized. The bead-blasting done to create this finish will hide the rough finish. Best.

 

[dinosaur]

AIM Hi Power

I have one of these. The finish is black enamel. I understand it can be stripped and underneath it`s parkerized. It should be no problem finishing it to your liking.

Be advised that if you plan to carry it, it has the small, non ambi safety. Also, if you cock the gun then pull the trigger with the safety on, the safety locks up. I`ve been told the Isreali`s carried in condition 3 so the safety itself wasn`t a concern. I`m thinking and I could be wrong, the safety "hangup" may be built into the gun. This would need to be addressed for codition 1 carry.
Mine was built in 1996 and is in really nice shape. It shoots well and the 2 hi cap mags work fine.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Just to add to what dinosaur said, I've seen the safety lock-up problem in two of the AIM Israeli-surplus Hi-Powers myself - so I think it is probably intentional. Maybe the Israelis were trying to discourage condition one carry?

In any case, if you do intentionally or accidentally lock up your safety, you can correct the problem by REMOVING THE MAGAZINE AND POINTING THE GUN IN A SAFE DIRECTION and then pulling back on the already cocked hammer with one hand while releasing the safety with the other.

You can also use brute force to disengage the safety; but the above method is probably easier on both you and the pistol.

As for the finish, I went cheap and didn't spring for the extra $20. I got a gun with a pretty good ding in it and a rough finish. However, you pay your money and you take your chances... mine had a ding all the way into the metal right on the edge of the top and side of the slide. That probably won't come out regardless.

However, I am still pretty happy since mine also had a pair of Meprolight Tru-Dots installed on it (although one corner of the rear sight had been flattened a bit) and it also had an excellent trigger. In my view, the extra $20 for the nicer finish is probably worth the money, even if you plan to refinish it.

 

[Skorzeny]

I have one of those AIM High Powers. Unfortunately for me, mine broke the extractor after about 200 rounds. It cost me about $50 to fix. Well, at least I have a brand new (and presumably durable) extractor now.

The gun is quite loosely fit, especially the slide-to-frame fit (something that is to be expected in such a used-and-abused security service issue handgun). The barrel-to-slide fit seems to be better, however.

Overall, the gun is quite dinged up externally, but shoots well enough. It is not, however, quite accurate as my NIB CZ-75B (which cost a bit more, but not by much).

Mine also has the safety lock-up problem. So, I am probably going to have the safey replaced (probably Mark III or aftermarket extended), the sight replaced (mine has Mark II sights) and the hammer replaced with a commander hammer. In addition, I am probably going to have it re-finished as well as installing new springs.

The trigger is pretty good and the high-cap magazines were an outstanding deal. However, knowing what I know now, I probably would have waited and bought an FN High Power Mark III (that is supposed to be imported starting next year) IF I could do it all over again.

My recommendation is to buy it if you are goind to use it as a bang-around, use-and-abuse shooter, but not if you plan to be real fastidious with it or stake your life on it.

YMMV,

Skorzeny

 

[Dr.Rob]

For less money you can get a PJK9HP (hungarian hi-power) from FEG new with a deep glossy blue finish, 3 dot sites and extended saftey and slide stop. The one my buddy just picked up ran him $240, tax bkgrd check included. Only came with one magazine, but hi caps for hi powers have been aroun a long time.

If your heart is set on refinishing a good smith will charge around $200 for electroless nickel or $150 to parkerize it.. that 's a LOT of money for a used gun.

 

[skevlar]

Have a similar Israeli HP that had the same finish. It comes off easily and usually looks worse than it is as it is a nice and thick coating anyway. Had Novak's do mine along with a "Carry Bevel" in a very deep dark blue. It's only $75 to bead blast and blue the entire pistol. It looks like new and like the work they did as well. http://www.novaksights.com If you want chromium consider Metalife. You can get it "bright" or dull and it won't change a trigger job, even. On the other hand it won't cover up pits or deep scratches, though they can polish the superficial ones out for you. http://www.metalifeind.com Also Kurt Wickmann who used to be Novak's #1 HP Pistolsmith has his own shop now and is very Highly recomended. http://www.kwgw.com It has been my experience that neither Novak's or Kurt will overcharge or oversell you, also. Both shops are willing to discuss work you want done without oblgation. The only other one that am aware of that comes highly recomended is Don Williams @ The Action Works. http://www.theactionworks.com

 

[Richard]

I am sure you are better off buying a new MKIII than putting the money into the AIM pistol. By the time you are done you will have as much money in the AIM as a new pistol costs. All a new MKIII needs is a trigger job and some don't need that. Regards, Richard.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Disagree on the new FN over the AIM pistols... just shot mine yesterday and the one thing these pistols don't need is a trigger job. It had outstanding accuracy.

If you don't plan on carrying it, you won't need to worry about the safety or the safety lock-up issue. If you are just looking for a good "shooter" Hi-Power, you'll be hard pressed to beat $299 for an actual Belgian Hi-Power. Throw in another $75 for refinish and you are still only at $375.

A new MkIII will be a better gun (IF it comes out as promised in February) but will probably run $500-600 and will most likely need a trigger job done on it if the last ones offered by Browning are any indication. Not only that; but most of the things you would want to change on the AIM pistol (mag safety, sights, grips) will also have to be changed on a new Hi-Power as well.

The catch of course is that because you are buying surplus, you have no way of knowing if you'll need a new extractor or other mechanical parts. It doesn't take replacing too many of those to bring you up to the price of a new Hi-Power where that is not an issue and where you don't have to be concerned about how much heavy use it has in its past.

 

[high_caliber]

If the finish is a prime concern, you should buy a new one or a "used" in the condition you want. If you want to save money and want a good finish, then you may wish to read my mini-review as follows:

I asked my nephew, who is a dealer and range operator, to order one of these for me. He actually ordered three of these pistols and allowed me to take my pick when they arrived. He will sell the other 2 pistols for $349/each. The 3 pistols were not hand-picked by AIM and were approximately equal in external condition. The holsters and magazine pouches showed a lot of wear from a lot of “carry time”. The magazines are parkerized and are from different manufacturers. The magazine bodies are in excellent condition. The base plates are just slightly bent and the bottom shows wear, but these features in no way impede the functionality of the magazine. Upon removing the slides from all 3 pistols, I could detect little or no evidence of firing beyond any factory test fires. These guns look brand new inside. The serial number of the pistol I chose was in the 245NX01xxx series. The trigger action has a very smooth feel to it: better than my Practical Hi-Power. Fit of the slide to frame is very good and also feels very smooth. Examining the underside of the slide reveals that the sear lever is a type 1, which does not have the integrated firing pin block.
At the range, which is of the outdoor variety, the weather is a little too chilly for me and the benches are packed with hunters that are getting their rifles ready for deer season. As a result I don’t take time to set up paper targets in order to measure performance. Instead, I place my trusty 20 oz. empty soft drink bottles and small cottage cheese containers about 25 yards from the bench. These targets do not last very long since I can easily plink them on the first or second shot using my reloads of 115 gr. FMJ with 5.0 gr. of Bullseye and an OAL of 1.200”. This is a sweet shooting pistol, apparently hitting point-of-aim and grouping well despite the heavy but clean-breaking factory trigger pull.
The exterior finish was worn and had a cracked pattern, the texture looking much like the dry barren dirt you see in arid environments. I removed the grips and the slide from the frame and applied paint stripper to all areas with the exterior finish. After leaving this on for about 30 minutes, I scrubbed it rigorously with a brass-bristled brush. I wiped any excess off with a cloth then immersed the frame and slide into a coffee can full of Ed’s Red and scrubbed off the remaining residue with a retired toothbrush. I had to repeat the above process two more times in order to get all of the finish off. What remained was an evenly parkerized surface with some natural but minor wear areas from the holster. After reassembling the gun, I am very pleased at this point with the overall appearance. I then proceed to restore the sights with some white nail polish and install the Hogue rubber grips purchased earlier. With a little Break-Free on some internal parts and a little Lubriplate on the slide rails, this project is nearly complete.

Best Regards, Lou